Janus?

Janus is the name of the mythical Roman god whose characteristic is having two faces on his head, looking in opposite directions.  Many people think that "January" bears his name, in the sense of looking forward and backward at the same time.

(In fact, this month "officially" seems to be named after Juno,

the "mother goddess" instead.)   For me, this seemed like

an appropriate opening,  since so much has been going on

that I hardly know which way to look!

One photo-set which I didn't get posted last month is this location in Barbaza which had a motif established for the "barangay" (=neighborhood).  This plaza area with its cherry-blossoms was "continued" at close intervals with "cherry-trees" for about a half-mile.  Quite elaborate and impressive.

"One for the road?"  I didn't have a clear photo of this aspect of the highway-widening project last month.  As I have travelled some meanwhile, and I have heard and seen that there is a MAJOR NATIONWIDE PUSH to get all national highways made 4-lane.  A by-product of this urgency seems to be  "build the road NOW,  take care of smaller details later  (like removing utility poles)."  There are more than 60 bridges in about a 135 mile road-length between Iloilo and Pandan, and I think NONE of them are four-lane (except the side-by-side old & new shown last month)  - - - - and countless places where the buildings lining the two-lane road are too close for 4-lane right-of-way.  It's gonna be a WHILE, folks.  

(Map of Panay Island added at end of this posting.  We are on the west coast.  There appear to be around 600 - 700 miles of National Highway road around the perimeter and north-south through the middle of Panay.)

(I still need to try to catch a photo of fresh-poured cement-highway, being hand-trowel finished by a crew of guys on their knees.   NEVER going to see such a thing in USA any more!  Hand-finished cement roads make for a much more interesting ride experience, too!!) 

   

"Last ditch effort?"  Two years ago the drain culverts on the east side of "Main Street" Tibiao were completed;  THEN it took nearly 2 years for the new concrete roadway to be finished;

NOW, the west side of the new roadway, adjacent to the new concrete, is dug up for a few hundred yards. NOTE, the culverts are all hand-formed with plywood, with hand-fabricated re-bar cut-on-site, and only recently do I see any cement mix-trucks in this area; so, possibly even the cement for the project is "on-site" small batch, made with portable mixers. (See in photo.) OFTEN the ditches are hand-dug, but this project featured a medium-sized track-hoe for at least part of the job. EVERYTHING takes a long time, here!  The "downtown" streets have been  dug-up one way or another since shortly after the Typhoon in November 2013.

(LATER NOTE:  Just before publication a "preview" shows that the offset- side by side arrangement of the above photos WILL NOT copy to the final posting.  I try sometimes to vary my single-column format of photos and make it look more interesting, but the "default template" of this blog-website usually defeats my efforts.)

December 29 annual Christmas social at our church conference

center had more than 120 attending, with presentations, games,

and a potluck meal.

 New Year's Day we had quite a group of various-designated

young relatives invited over for mid-afternoon feast.  

Fair-sized plateful: banana muffin, pancit noodles, bread-with-spread.

 This is not the entire group -some are hanging behind me

in the "patio" (called "dirty kitchen" here, same thing).  They

are gathered around Bernadette - -

- - who has volunteers blind-drawing names out of a box.

Each one whose name is drawn may blind-select from several

envelopes containing 50- or 20- peso bills.  Either amount

is enough for a treat-or-two from one of the tiny "variety"

(local expression "sari-sari") stores nearby.  Approx.

50 pesos = $1.00 for the last year or so.  Here,

we have a winner!

Left-over banana muffins and gelatin cups don't stay around

after the party - - they are packed up and sent home for later.

"Order to go."

Tambis fruit grows on the tree that pokes through a space

in our carport roof.  On two days sister-in-law Gina and a

helper harvested these, and sold them to elementary-

school pedestrians at our gate for one peso each. On

Thursday the count was 340, and the following Monday

looked about the same (I got no statistics).  In each case,

above a "fair day's wage" for this area.  (The school is

50 yards from us, at the "dead end" of our street.)

Our yard-chickens produce mostly small-ish eggs, large end

a little bigger than a golf ball - but LOTS of them are thick shelled

with bright yellow-orange yolks.  The fruit is kalamansi, pretty

much like a ping-pong ball sized lime.  We have two trees which

bear fairly heavily and consistently.  It makes great "lemon pie."

(Vintage Tupperware rolling-mat arrived in our annual "care-

package" box, an e-bay purchase.)

We did a fair amount of holiday baking this year.  Bernadette

made made a number of types of cookies, shortbread, and

cakes, while I continued my baking experiments.  This coconut

cream pie has fresh coconut liquid substituted for about 1/2

the cow-milk in a standard "cream pie filling" and  1.5 cups

of fresh-grated coconut mixed in.  Next time I will simmer

and reduce the coconut liquid by 1/2 to 2/3, to

concentrate its flavor.  My nicely-toasted coconut shreds

had to be replaced by "fresh" at the last minute, as

they didn't "keep" overnight in this climate. 

 First time in five years, we had fresh-from-cows milk, from

these half-liter bottles brought by a friend from Iloilo,100 miles

away.  This is new to Iloilo, a city of nearly 500,000 pop.,  as this

non-dairy-product culture has little stock of fresh milk products.

We HEAR (by rumor) that it comes from a dairy on nearby

Negros Island.  Typically, we use vacuum-sealed-box milk

here (which was just beginning to appear in USA groceries

before we moved here in 2012),  or evaporated or

condensed canned milk.  A one-liter box-milk costs

about $1.30 to $1.70 depending on brand-name.

On an afternoon walk, I got a couple photos of Mama Duck and

four ducklings foraging along one pathway.

Replacement ducks = reducktion = increase.   

There's a paraducks (or two) somewhere in that equation.   

We had a rice harvest on January 19, which allowed me to

finally get a couple  "stock photos" which I'd never gotten

in all the dozen-or-more harvests we have had (3 per year).

I got most of the planting, growing, harvesting, threshing,

and other processing of rice recorded in several postings

of 2013 (just before Yolanda Typhoon)  and after we got

our communications back 6 months after the Typhoon

in 2014.  Here are links: 

Filipino Pharm   Rice is Nice 1    Rice is Nice 2

Rice is all hand-cut with short sickles, and carried to the center

of the field and spread in bundles awaiting threshing.  Each

reaper's "stack" is separate and accounted for.  His "share" 

of the final threshed and winnowed grain

depends on how much he cut.

I hadn't got a photo of a threshing machine being carried

into the rice-field, before this. I DID mention that it

"arrives in the manner of the Ark of the Covenant." 

The thresher flails the rice stalks and powerfully throws the straw

30- or- so feet away.  Grain, which is heavier, lands on a bamboo

mat. "Rice is Nice 1" has some closeups of the machine.

Meanwhile a winnowing fan is brought in and set up

near the threshing-mat.

 

 A "tipi- frame" supports a swinging screen-panel, and

the threshed rice is passed through this"winnow" system with

the  fan set up to blow away most of the remaining "chaff."

Rice is then bagged and divided in "shares" for various

people entitled, and the remainder goes to the owner

of the crop.  From this harvest we ended up with 7 sacks,

from a field which has "peaked" at about 37 sacks in

previous harvests.  Oh, well, at least we won't be buying

rice at retail price.

 A certain amount of light-weight  rice falls beyond the threshing

mat, but still thickly enough to glean.  It is gathered by some

folks who want the grain badly enough to go to greater

efforts to salvage it.  This pile has been carried to the road

and is being winnowed with a flat-square-basket - tossed

up for the wind to carry away useless bits.

THIS KIND of winnowing basket is in EVERY kitchen here,

and is used to fine-sort the rice before every cooking -

3 times per day if you're "rich."

Another method is simply to repeatedly "sprinkle" the rice grains

so that the chaff will blow out as they fall to the pile below. 

THIS rice will still need to be put in water so that remaining

empty hulls will float and be strained out; AFTER THAT it

must be sun-dried for storage, and AFTER THAT it must

have the final inner hulls polished off (removed) before

it can be cooked and eaten.  

My viewers from several years ago may have remembered

 some of the above process - there's actually a lot more

to it - and I encourage newer viewers to at least

skim back through the postings linked above.

After a "forever" of rainy- gray overcast days and nights, we are finally getting some clear

spells - - enough to have the occasional colorful ocean-sunset again.  We notice that the daylight has lengthened by about 30 minutes, approaching 12 hours per day.  Our maximum

daylight length at summer solstice at 11 degrees north, seems to be a little over 13 hours.

We're pleased to spend our "sunset years" within a 2-minute walk of such sights, in Antique Province (Hispanic pronunciation Ann-TEE- kay), gradually becoming more antique ourselves.

We hope that you are having a pleasant and blessed 2018!

TeeJay and Bernadette Larson

Antique Province, Philippines

Panay Island

Christmas 2017/ New Year 2018

(begun Sat. Dec. 30)  (Finished Wed. Jan. 3)  

As usual, it just doesn't seem like 2017 should be over quite so quickly, looking at it from one angle;  AND AS USUAL (from a little different angle) enough things happened to have possibly filled TWO years.  So it seems I'll probably say it was about an average year, once some time passes and I get a little further away from it.

Guess I'll start with a few "general photos" and work my way around to some more seasonal things.

 "Hi-yo,  Silver!"** 

 We had a couple extra trees growing in the poultry yard, not

needed very much where they were.  One of these was a

banana tree (OK, I know it technically is not a tree!) which

will be easy to replace.  Here is its last "harvest" just before

getting "the chop."  Several varieties of bananas always

grow nearby,  so no loss.

 This view  may give you an idea of the height of the coconut

tree, which appeared to be more than 35 feet.  If it fell over it

could do lots of damage - - -

 and in fact the 25-or-so 2- pound "coconut bombs" falling

one or two at a time could punch through the roofs of the

storage- or saw- sheds; or maybe cause a head-ache.

 So one fine morning, two of our "helpers" removed both of the trees,

taking the coconut down in safe-to-drop short sections.

One of our "back fence" neighbors has this very nice-looking motorcycle "tricycle" (a vehicle

type iconic to the Philippines  LINK) . He frequently comes to our gate before 5:30 a.m. to buy 33 of our "ice bags" which Bernadette fills and freezes. He is developing a small-scale ice-cream vending business,  so he uses our ice to freeze a day's worth of product.

His vehicle has an unusual number of nicely-made racks all

around and on top.   "PRIVATE" signs posted on the front

help would-be passengers to quickly see that he is NOT

a "TAXI," as nearly all of the tricycles around here are.

(Photo shot from opposite direction, with the rising sun

behind me, is interestingly different color from the other two.)

A majority of people around here get up well before 6 a.m. most of the time, and we do, too.  Only in the last week, since Dec. 21, do we tend to "sleep in" a little later than 5:15 or 5:30, since the sunrise time has moved by about 45 minutes later.  It is actually quite dark until a few minutes before 6 a.m. now, but that will change pretty rapidly (get light earlier) in the next month.

(**Ford Motor Company has an assembly plant somewhere near Manila, so we see many Ford pickup trucks and "SUV-type" Ford vehicles.  They are an "upper market" choice, here, priced at- and- over 1.5 million Philippine pesos - $30,000.  I just checked, the top of the line Expedition is about $80,000 here = 4 million pesos.   I won't elaborate about the caption of  that photo, I think most of you probably "got it.") 

The "National Highway" which runs around 400 miles of the

perimeter of Panay Island is getting a lot of improvement,

and many places  are being made into 4- lanes. The new

lane at left is complete, and the new lane at right is almost

ready to pour, at this section about 5 miles of south of us.
***

Here, the "old bridge" on the right was retained and remodeled

beside the new bridge to create a 4-lane pair of bridges.   

 But immediately at both ends of those bridges, there isn't enough

right-of-way space to continue 4 lanes.  This "SHORT 4-lane

reducing to 2-lane" pattern is pretty frequent now, and I am

doubtful that all of the narrow areas can ever be widened

because of existing structures and obstacles. 

 (I don't know if Philippines has "eminent domain" laws

but if so they would move pretty slowly.)

(The phrase  "GLACIAL PROGRESS" 

often comes to foreigners' minds here, but glaciers pretty

much would move faster than most processes here, and

of course THERE AREN'T ANY GLACIERS!!)

***(NOTE:  First "road photo" above,  the utility poles in the

graded area at the right WERE NOT removed, before the

new highway- lane was poured-in-cement around them!!

MAYBE they will be removed in future, and the HOLES

which they leave behind MIGHT be repaired after THAT.)

(MAYBE the next ice age will cause a GLACIER to come

and remove those poles from obstructing the new lane.) 

THIS view is still typical of 99% (it seems) of the highways here.

20- foot roadway with 10- foot lanes is "standard."

YOU NEVER KNOW what you might see being carried on

a motorcycle here.  There is a driver seated in front of 

the lady who is holding the chairs.

Philippine "baby boomer?"

One morning Joseph and I passed this cute little boom-crane truck - violet, but not too dangerous - on our way to San Jose.  As we overtook it, he got a couple photos.  Seems

like it might  be useful for electric or communication company pole and line work, but it is

a little small for most other "high work" projects I  see around here.

I took this photo while leaning out a bus window, the year bfore

we bought the Suzuki car.  We had passed by St. Augustine's

Academy in Patnongan many times before, without a chance

to grab a photo.  The "title sign" on the building indicates

the academy's founding in 1962 - - so I had quite some

curiosity about the building, which is much older.  Local

guidebooks and "Wiki" had no info to offer, so for a few

years  didn't know the actual origin or history of

the building. There is another "wing" of the building

which appears to be "modern" within the last few decades

 Passing by about a week ago I discovered this bronze historic sign

attached to the wall just where it is usually blocked by parked

jeepneys and other vehicles.  So I got a photo. The sign is in 

Tagalog, the "national" language, which is unusual since most 

such signs here are in English.  The gist of it is that the building

dates from 1860, and was used as convent and monastery

at various times until the academy acquired it in 1960.

"Built, transferred, administrated, organized" plus names of

"Padres," and  "Mill Hill Fathers of Inglaterra (England)," 

and mention of the Philippines War and World War II dates,   

comprise much of the text.  I know scarcely any Philippino

language, and only a smattering of Spanish, but "instant

Google translator" for key words makes it pretty easy to work

out the general meaning of signs, even with two "foreign

languages" in play.  Even though I can't actually READ it, 

 I could figure it out in a few minutes.

(SAD TO SAY, some U.S. educators bemoan that children

NOT TAUGHT CURSIVE SCRIPT will never be able to 

read historic documents which are written in cursive

English.   SAD on two counts,  1) that our "education" is

too "dumbed-down"  to teach cursive - - and sadder, 

2) that the children do not have enough "grit" taught

them to BE ABLE to figure out a text in English with

slightly different letter-forms.   [Well, now that I re-think

it, far too many can't figure out - READ - any text in

plain, simple, modern, printed English, either.])

Well, lots of things interest me, here.  That's good, it keeps my mind active in between spells of boredom.  I've used up a fair amount of space  with "interesting stuff" and now it's time to get the "Holiday stuff" situated.

                                   
 Around our immediate area, the decorating was not very elaborate this year.  The three "trees" above are typical of a dozen or so that appeared around our neighborhood of Malabor, within 1/4 mile or so of our house.  These represent lots of time, creativity, and effort, which distinguishes the makers from their surroundings.    There were a few lighted displays, but it seems that without a major "push" or perhaps a "competition" folks here don't get overly motivated. The biggest part of most peoples' holidays may be the food and festivities, so that's where their energy goes.   The carousel and the larger tree were installed at the Tibiao Municipal Plaza, a couple miles from where we live.

We passed through BUGASONG in mid-December,  and, as last year, there was a large display occupying most of their municipal plaza. This is a link  which should take you to last year's blog for a look at that display.  We managed to get down there (30+km.) a few evenings later when there was no rain (RAINY December, this year!).  

The theme for this year was apparently "Disneyland Adventures," with this elaborate Sleeping Beauty Castle as the centerpiece. We arrived just before dusk, so some photos below will have  lighting on the displays.  The two below begin to convey some of the "magic" but I had trouble adjusting the "automatic features" of my little camera, which made the sky much brighter and took away from the lights.

Mickey Mouse was prominently featured in an area called "Toonland."

 

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head have Rapunzel's Tower and one of  Alice's mushrooms from Wonder Land behind them.  
 

"Adventure" in an ancient Pacific Islander exploration canoe.

 On the return trip from Bugasong, we passed one neighborhood which had a "tree competition," and I managed to get this ONE photo's "cooperation" from the camera;
quite a few other trees were similarly elaborate and well-lit.

Christmas Morning

 It was actually almost 11:00 a.m. when grandson Timmie woke up 
on Christmas morning.  Kids here aren't pre-conditioned to jump
out of bed before dawn!   I took this photo mostly to show the
"conditions" that morning which are typical for this time of year;
TIME: 10:49  DATE: 12/25, Monday
87.4 degrees inside with windows open and a fan blowing now
feels OK to us - apparently we have adapted!

Well I did the best I can manage with the layout above!  We had
a lot of fun watching the action that morning.  So far, Timmie's two
"most favorite" items are the Batman-mobile car from the toe
of the stocking, and the "r-r-r-r-ingy  bell" on the bicycle. We haven't
quite gotten used to the bike itself yet, but making progress.

Well it is Wednesday, Jan. 3 already. I have been pecking at this

since Saturday, a few minutes at a time, and there is still a fair amount of "New Year's stuff"  which I intended to post, but I will post-pone THAT  in favor of getting this published!  We had quite a bit of special-programming and activities and guests the last week or so, so it has been a busy time for us.

(AS USUAL, my layout/ format of photos and text gets moved around when published.  Sorry!)

We were blessed with a relatively quiet New Year's Eve, the typical loud-music parties being some distance away from us this time.  "PANdemonium" at midnight, with a great many small explosive fireworks added to the beating of cooking-ware, but surprisingly FEW sky-rockets and "Roman fountain" works.  I got up, honked the car horn two times, and went back to bed.

We wish all of "you and yours" a peaceful and contented 2018.

TJ and Bernadette Larson

Malabor, Tibiao, 

Antique Province, Philippines